The Auburn Avenue History & Cultural Project is Moving Forward!

Silverman has been working with Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (CAP/ADID) to enhance Auburn Avenue. This pending project has been in the drawing books since 2013 and is finally moving forward.

The Auburn Avenue Historic and Cultural Information Project includes two major components. The first is the repair, update and installation of new, historical and cultural wayside signs along Auburn Avenue between Peachtree Street and Old Wheat Street. The second project element is a mural enhancement to the existing bridge underpass at Auburn Avenue and Interstate 75/85.

This preliminary rendering illustrates the appearance of the light boxes and mural to be installed in the Auburn Avenue underpass. The names on light boxes have been changed and the mural now is to include seven blocks that address specific highpoints of the corridor’s history.

This mural will showcase Auburn Avenue over a 40-year period with the below photographic renderings:

World War 1, Parade, 1918;

Atlanta Life Building, 1932;

Butler Street and Houston Street, circa 1950;

Yates and Milton Drugstore, circa 1920s;

Big Bethel AME, circa 1922;

View down Auburn Avenue with gas station, 1950s;

Sweet Auburn, 1954.

In addition to the mural and lightboxes, the project includes the installation of wayfinding signage, historic markers and decorative lights. The project will also support the Atlanta Streetcar through the inclusion of signs and interpretive information related to Atlanta’s transit history to be located at its maintenance facility at the I-75/85 underpass. Construction costs are being provided by the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, an affiliate of Central Atlanta Progress, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. Silverman Construction Program Management is the Project Manager.